[et2o]

Shame on you.

We will not have supersonic transport for average people unless outsiders do it first. There are only two meaningfully large manufacturers now, Airbus and Boeing.

Boeing and Airbus both cannot financially afford a technologically promising but possible failure now. Boeing built the 737 MAXX because they couldn’t afford a clean sheet update of 70-year old technology despite the savings. Airbus lost almost as much as the entire company was worth on the A380, kept afloat by EU subsidies.

All new technology happens for the wealthy first - we would not have smartphones today if Apple was forced to price them at the median price of cell phones in 2004.

[tw04]

> Boeing built the 737 MAXX because they couldn’t afford a clean sheet update of 70-year old technology despite the savings.

Boeing ABSOLUTELY could afford a clean sheet replacement of the 737. They chose not to because it would have opened them up to competition and reduced short term profits. Anyone claiming otherwise is blowing smoke.

[tmiku]

I agree with your sentiment, but not the reason - instead of concern about competition/short-term profitability, Boeing has always thrown huge amounts of money into stock buybacks, even while development is running over budget. This article is a great window into the institutional rot at Boeing, and I think it highlights the problems caused by large companies' decisions being dominated by their own stock price: https://newrepublic.com/article/154944/boeing-737-max-invest...

[et2o]

Just wrong. Read about the 7J7. The 787 cost something north of 20 billion to develop. The clean sheet 737 would have cost much more in today’s dollars. Boeing makes an average of less than 5% profit margin from the 1970s to now. It was a relatively obvious financial decision from Boeing’s perspective.

[tw04]

> The 787 cost something north of 20 billion to develop.

So on top of existing R&D, ignoring all of the money they dumped into stock buybacks, roughly 2 years of profits to create a plane design that would last 30 years.

They can absolutely afford that.

[woopsn]

Boeing can afford it, but the carriers built around 737 locked themselves in. They don't want a new plane.

[zarzavat]

I assume you never lived under the Concorde flight path.

There will never be supersonic transport for normal people simply because the technology is unsuitable for use near people. Most people want to fly between cities and cities tend to be inhabited by people, hence the essential tension.

Supersonic flight only works for a few specific flight paths where you are flying entirely over the ocean between two coastal airports. The moment you have to fly over people those people are going to get very angry and ban you from their airspace.